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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Four Charts That Illustrate The Extent Of World Poverty

By Kelsey Nowakowski, National Geographic

The share of people living in poverty around the world has dropped in the past three decades, but over a quarter of the world’s population still doesn’t earn enough to have reliable access to food. And a billion people are extremely poor, earning less than $1.25 a day.

That’s according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) 2015 State of Food and Agriculture report. The report finds marked improvements in some areas—including parts of Asia, where urbanization and economic growth have been significant in recent decades. But it also shows that poverty persists across the developing world, and sub-Saharan Africa, where almost half the population is extremely poor, continues to struggle.

The report also stresses the need to develop assistance programs for the poor that improve agricultural productivity.

These programs are especially important in places where accidents,
deaths, or shifts in business can bring havoc to personal finances, and
where, according to the report, “The poor become trapped in vicious
circles of hunger, poor nutrition, ill health, low productivity, and
poverty.”